Heatley, Alfredsson help hand Sabres fifth straight loss

BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- Ray Emery has been petitioning
for more playing time, but he did not help his cause Friday
night. Luckily for him, the Ottawa Senators' talented offense
bailed him out.

After Emery relinquished a three-goal advantage, Dany Heatley
and captain Daniel Alfredsson scored late in the third period to
lift the Senators to a 5-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

Alfredsson added an assist and Jason Spezza netted a tally and
set up another for Ottawa, which was coming off consecutive
losses to the Washington Capitals.

"They always seem to turn it up a notch when we need them to,
definitely a good offensive line," Emery said of the Senators'
high-scoring top unit.

The offense staked Emery to a 3-0 lead midway through the second
period, but a goaltending change at the other end of the rink
sparked a trio of goals by the Sabres that tied the game.

Heatley, however, helped out Emery by tallying his 24th goal of
the season with 4:41 left in the third to give Ottawa a 4-3
edge. On a 2-on-1 rush, Heatley unleashed a slap shot that beat
goaltender Jocelyn Thibault high to the stick side.

"I think at 3-3, we didn't get totally rattled," Heatley said.
"We played as calm as we could in a pretty hostile rink. It
felt nice to get that break on the fourth goal."

Alfredsson added insurance when he netted his 25th tally of the
campaign, wristing a shot to the short side of Thibault exactly
two minutes later.

"Heatley scores a huge goal for us, obviously," Alfredsson said.
"They got momentum going, they want to keep going. We end up
making a play out of our own end. They wanted to win the game
in regulation, and then Heatley (came through) with a great
shot."

The Sabres now have lost a season-high five consecutive games.

After Jason Spezza gave the Senators a 3-0 lead with 9:11 left
in the second period, Sabres coach Lindy Ruff pulled Ryan Miller
- who made 14 saves - in favor of Thibault, and the game's
momentum seemed to turn.

Just 15 seconds after Spezza's 15th goal, Thomas Vanek
controlled the puck behind the net and made a wraparound pass
through the crease to Ales Kotalik, who converted for his 13th
tally.

Jochen Hecht cut the deficit to one with 8:29 remaining, when he
deflected Jason Pominville's wrist shot from the high slot past
Emery.

Less than a minute later, Kotalik nearly tied the contest when
he hit the goalpost, looking to sneak one by Emery.

Michael Ryan then got some help from Emery to tie the game at
3-3 with 6:11 left in the final session. Ryan's attempted
centering feed from behind the goal line bounced off the
netminder's skate and into the net for his third tally of the
campaign.

"I don't know if that got the offense going. We scored, we had
some opportunities," Ruff said. "Ryan will be the first to say
he needs to be a little better on a couple of those. That's the
bottom line, you're looking for a spark, you're looking for a
reaction. We got a good reaction and scored right away on it,
but until that point, we had failed."

Emery finished with 36 saves in his first start since December
22.

"I like playing. It'd be good to just string some games
together," said Emery, who has been publicly critical of his
amount of playing time this season. "Hopefully, I get a chance
to play soon."

"(Emery) did very good. We did a good job keeping them to the
outside, mostly," Alfredsson said. "I think the goals, you
couldn't do much on them. He played good for us. That's all we
need."

Cody Bass' first career goal gave Ottawa an early 1-0 lead at
3:05 of the first period. Defenseman Andrej Meszaros threw a
shot at the net from the right point that glanced off Mike
Fisher's jersey and was redirected by Bass past Miller.

It took Bass just eight career games to tally. Fisher also
extended his career-high points streak to six games with an
assist on the play.

"The puck was at the point, me and (Fisher) both went to the
net," Bass said. "He tipped it first. Good things will happen
when you go to the net."

The Sabres thought they tied the game when Vanek swatted a puck
shoulder high past Emery with 2:03 left in the opening session.
It immediately was waved off, however, and video review upheld
referee Ian Walsh's call.

Meszaros helped the Senators take advantage of a power-play
opportunity just 95 seconds into the second period to take a 2-0
edge.

The 22-year-old Czech connected on a rising slap shot from just
inside the blue line, catching the left corner of the net. It
was his seventh of the season, matching his total from last
season.

Spezza gave Ottawa a 3-0 advantage lead when he gathered a
rebound just to the left of the crease. With Miller down, he
flipped a shot just inside the right post.

Ottawa defenseman Anton Volchenkov returned to the lineup after
missing 15 games with a broken finger. He delivered a crushing
hit on Daniel Paille midway through the first period, and the
Sabres' left wing went to the locker room nursing his jaw and
did not return.